Rugby League: Warriors' hair gets the chance to shine in advert

By CATHERINE MASTERS

There was a bit of jealousy in the Warriors camp last year when the Sydney City Roosters hit the TV screens in an advertisement for Sunsilk shampoo.

After all, the Warriors are well known in the NRL for taking pride in their hair. So much so that coach Daniel Anderson long ago banned them from checking their locks in front of the mirror minutes before they ran on to the field.

He ordered them to come to the game with their hair already done - but says these days there's a crowd around the mirror after the match.

At the time of the Roosters ad, Anderson told the media if it had been his team chosen to do a hair ad there would be 20 of them diving to get on the screen: "I've got that many blokes that can do a hair ad it's ridiculous."

Now, their time has come. Sunsilk has put the Warriors on to the small screen. The first of two advertisements features Stacey Jones having a bit of trouble with dandruff.

Anderson is relaxed about the ad.

"They're good boys," he says more than once. "They're very funny. There's usually always a battle on about fashion and hair."

The ad is a good way for some of the players to boost their profiles and it has other spin-offs, he says.

"I guess it's good people realise that they're not boofheads. They can speak well and they've got a bit of humour about them, they're quite funny individuals."

But the ad features only a handful of Warriors. The burning question is did the players left out become bitter?

Anderson says no, of course not.

Mind you, he says, Henry Fa'afili - known for his striking seasonal hairstyles - had hurt his wrist at the time of filming and had a cast on so could not be in it.

"So he might be a bit dirty."

No matter, Fa'afili gets a top billing in another Warriors ad about to hit the screens, this one for sponsor Lion Red, which Anderson says had him falling about. It features them dancing.

"It is a very humorous look at the footballers you'd have no idea about. You wouldn't see many professional athletes doing ridiculous dance moves in front of the camera."

Ridiculous dance moves?

"Sorry," says the coach.

"Someone of my generation would look at them and go 'geez, that's ridiculous'. But I'm sure they're all looking at each other going, 'oooh, nice move'."

Hopefully, the Warriors will keep the coach happy with some nice moves in Brisbane tomorrow in their first NRL match of the season against the Broncos.